Constitutional Justice M. Guntur Hamzah giving a public lecture at the Law Faculty of Hasanuddin University, Friday (3/17/2022). Photo by MKRI/Agung.

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(MKRI) — Constitutional Justice M. Guntur Hamzah officially opened a series of constitution-related events, the Gebyar Konstitusi VII, organized by the Institute for Legal and Constitutional Debate (LeDHaK) of the Law Faculty of Hasanuddin University (FH Unhas) in collaboration with the Constitutional Court (MK) on Friday, March 17, 2023. The series on “Following Nomocracy, Faithfulness to Democracy, Unity under the Constitution” also included a public lecture on “Towards Democratic Election: From the Constitution, by the Constitutional Court, for the Nation’s Progress” at the Auditorium of Prof. Dr. H. Baharuddin Lopa, S.H. of FH Unhas, Makassar, South Sulawesi Province. The faculty’s Vice Dean for Partnership, Research, and Innovation Ratnawati was in attendance.

In his lecture, Justice Guntur talked about the pemilu (general election) acronym, which stands for participation, election mandate, integrity, legality, and universal suffrage. Election provisions, he said, are enshrined in Article 22E paragraphs (1) to (6) of the 1945 Constitution, while the implementation is regulated in Article 1 point 1 of Law No. 7 of 2017 of General Elections. In short, he said, the election is the people’s way of exercising the sovereignty to elect members of the DPR (House of Representatives), DPD (Regional Representatives Council), and DPRD (Regional Legislative Council), as well as the president and vice president. The election is direct, public, free, confidential, honest, and fair based on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution.

“The election is not only regulated in the Indonesian Constitution, but also internationally in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The election to determine who represents [the people] must be done in a free manner. It is a norm in international law. The voting right in election must guarantee the freedom to cast votes,” Justice Guntur said alongside Head of the Public Relations and National Affairs Department Fajar Laksono.

Justice Guntur explained that election issues are resolved in stages by relevant institutions. Disputes over election results are settled in the Constitutional Court. The Court, he said, had prepared guidelines for the resolution of these disputes, i.e. the Constitutional Court Regulation (PMK) No. 2 of 2023 on the procedure for dispute cases over DPRD election, No. 3 on the procedure for dispute cases over DPD election, and No. 4 on the procedure for dispute cases over presidential election.

“For those who would like to learn more about election in the Constitutional Court, these regulations can be downloaded off mkri.id. The website provides all things that the public might need about the Constitutional Court, such as its PMKs and all of its activities to exercise its role and authority,” he said alongside moderator Fajlurrahman Jurdi, a lecturer at the faculty.

At the end of his lecture, Justice Guntur talked about modern constitutions. The Constitutional Court, he said, positions itself as a modern judicial institution. A modern constitution, he said, was born out of a joint agreement through referendum by the authorized institution. It contains the state goals, principles, organization and structure, as well as the procedure to amend it.

Enforcing Constitution

In the Q&A session, Sartika from the International Relations Study Program of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) of Unhas asked about the Court’s references on leader candidates who affected Indonesia’s foreign policy. Justice Guntur answered that the Court does not have any reference on how good leaders can be chosen by the community as it is only tasked with upholding the Constitution by not interfering with the citizens’ right to determine the nation’s leaders. The Court does not dictate citizens’ choice in the election because their right to choose must be guaranteed in accordance with the Constitution.

Next, Muhammad Yusuf, a graduate law student of Unhas, asked about delaying the election, to which Justice Guntur answered that the Court enforces the Constitution while election delay is not under its authority. As a judicial institution, the Court is passive and can only listen to the discourse within society. 

“The Court is not politically blind, but when such a discourse enters the Court in a judicial review case, an authority dispute between state institutions, resolution of election results disputes, dissolution of political parties, or even impeachment, then the Court [acts] according to the Constitution. Faithful to Pancasila, complying with the Constitution, because the norms of the Constitution have regulated the five-year cycle. Any such issue in the public, if it does not enter the Court, the Court cannot interfere, even to comment or discuss it, as it is not within the Court’s jurisdiction,” he stressed.

Author       : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Nur R.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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